Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965 in Mercer, Pennsylvania), better known as Trent Reznor, is the creative force behind the band Nine Inch Nails. He released most of his work under his former record label, Nothing Records. In 2004, he stated he will have nothing more to do with the label. Until recently, he had lived in New Orleans, Louisiana.
TVT Records signed Trent Reznor, and in 1989 he released "Pretty Hate Machine", Nine Inch Nails' first album. Subsequent works include 1992's eight song EP "Broken", 1994's "The Downward Spiral" and 1999's "The Fragile". His latest album, "With_Teeth", is expected to be released on 3 May 2005.
Reznor was the credited producer for Marilyn Manson's albums Portrait of an American Family (1994), Smells Like Children (1995), and Antichrist Superstar (1996), as well as the soundtrack for the film Natural Born Killers.
Reznor likes video games, most notably Doom by id Software, which he has said he played in the Nine Inch Nails tour bus after doing shows. He also created the soundtrack for id Software's hit Quake. (As a side-note, the NIN logo also appears on the nailgun ammo boxes in Quake)
Trent returned to work with id Software in 2003 as the sound engineer for video game Doom 3. However, due to "time, money, and bad management" he had to abandon this project, and his audio work did not make it into the game's release. The original audio files can be found on the internet, although they are not officially endorsed by Reznor or id software. Chris Vrenna, former drummer for Nine Inch Nails, produced the music for Doom 3 with his partner Clint Walsh.
During the five years between his albums The Downward Spiral (1994) and The Fragile (1999), Trent Reznor struggled with depression, writer's block, and the death of his grandmother. He has been reported to be suffering from bipolar disorder. It was reported that Reznor had considered committing suicide during this period. In a 1999 interview for Rolling Stone magazine, he said that "It just took me time to sit down and change my head and my life around. I had to slap myself in the face: 'If you want to kill yourself, do it, save everybody the fucking hassle. Or get your shit together.'"
Trent has collaborated with such artists as Tori Amos, adding backing vocals to "Past the Mission" from Under the Pink. He has also worked with David Bowie, Pigface, Marilyn Manson, The Neptunes, 1000 Homo DJs, and Peter Gabriel.
A collaboration with Danny Lohner, Maynard James Keenan of Tool, and Atticus Ross of 12 Rounds known as Tapeworm was in production for almost ten years, but an update on the official Nine Inch Nails website has declared that the project has been terminated. The only known performance of any Tapeworm material was of Keenan's other band, A Perfect Circle performing the song "Vacant" on tour in 2001. "Vacant" appears on A Perfect Circle's third album eMOTIVe, reworked and retitled "Passive".